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TRANSVAAL TO

TARIN KOWT

Australians at War

Centenary of ANZAC

Brisbane 25 April 2015

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Before Federation

From 1788 until Federation in 1901, the Australian colonies created their

own naval and military forces for defence. Queensland came into being on 6

June 1859 and in 1860 raised its first military unit, the Queensland Mounted

Rifles. Together with a small number of infantry and artillery, the colony's

military forces totalled about 250 men based primarily in Brisbane and

Ipswich. In 1867, two new units were raised; the Spring Hill and Fortitude

Valley Volunteer Rifle Corps and the Frog Hollow Rangers.

In 1897 the Queensland Mounted Rifles became the Queensland Mounted

Infantry which was to serve in South Africa in the Boer War. The unit

became part of the Australian Army in 1901 but retained its colonial name

and distinctive slouch hat worn with emu plumes. It served with horses in

World War One before converting to armoured vehicles in all conflicts from

World War Two

to Iraq and

Afghanistan.

The colonies also

had their own

gunboats. By

1880 Queensland

had Her Majesty’s

Queensland Ships

Paluma and

Gayundah shown

here in South

Brisbane Dry-

dock. At Federation they became part of the new Australian Navy, later the

Royal Australian Navy.

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The Boer War 1899-1902

Although Australian colonial forces had been involved in the Sudan War in

1885 and the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, the first war in which

Australia participated as a nation was the Boer War in South Africa from

1899 to 1902. The first conflict in 1880-81, not involving Australians, saw

Dutch settlers or Boers resist their colonies being absorbed into the British

Empire. The second war involved large numbers of troops from the Empire.

The Transvaal and Orange Free State became British colonies but only after

a long and bitter guerrilla campaign by the Dutch. Sixteen thousand

Australians served. mostly in

mounted units formed in each

colony before Federation and then

by the new Commonwealth

Government from 1901. Colonial

troops were valued for their ability

to “shoot and ride” in the open war

on the veldt which was similar to

the Australian bush. Amongst them

was the Australian bush poet A.B.

‘Banjo’ Paterson who reported on

the war. Australia suffered its third

highest deaths in a conflict – 606 in

two and a half years, more than in

Vietnam over 10 years.

Nurses

The Australian contingent included 60 nurses who paid their own way to

care for wounded troops. They served in ships off Gallipoli in the Army

Nursing Corps formed in 1903 and in all subsequent conflicts. The Navy

and the Air Force created their own Nursing Services.

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World War One 1914-1918

Only 12 years later, in

1914, Australians became

involved in World War

One. This conflict saw

death and injury on an

unprecedented scale

involving most of the

countries of Europe, the

British Empire and the

United States of America.

The German Kaiser

(Emperor) launched attacks

on Holland, Belgium and France to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The German Empire included colonies in New Guinea and the Solomon

Islands just north of Australia. France and

Britain declared war on Germany but the

conflict soon stalemated into trench warfare

that was to take the lives of millions of men on

both sides trying to gain a few metres of

ground amidst barbed wire, intense machine

gun fire and artillery. New inventions

including high explosive mines, poison gas,

tanks and aerial bombing added to the deaths

from wounds and disease. Britain lost one

million men; France 1.3million; Germany

1.7million and the USA 116,000.

Proportionately Australia, with a population of

4.9million in 1914, suffered one of the highest

casualty rates – 62,000 killed and 152,000 wounded.

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Australia had its first experience

of trench warfare in the landing

at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 in

company with units from Britain,

France, New Zealand, India,

Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Nepal

(Ghurkhas) and Newfoundland

(now a Canadian Province).

There also was the Zion Mule

Corps of volunteers from the

Jewish community in Alexandria in Egypt, who provided their own animals

to carry supplies to and from the beach. They may have supplied Simpson

with his donkey to help rescue Allied wounded. The Allied aim was to

neutralise Turkey as a German ally, but they could not overcome the

determined Turkish resistance holding the heights of the peninsula.

Until the successful evacuation of the Allied troops in December 1915,

Turkish casualties totalled 56,000 dead and 107,000 wounded and the Allies

56,000 dead and 123,000 wounded. Australia’s casualties were 8,709 dead

and 19,441 wounded and New Zealand’s 2,721 dead and 4,752 wounded..

Although Gallipoli was a costly military failure, the Australians and New

Zealanders showed courage, fortitude and mateship in extreme adversity

that set an example for all those who followed in later conflicts and for their

nations as a whole.

The aftermath of World War One saw Australians in their

first conflict with Communist forces - the Red Army that

seized power in Russia in 1917. In 1919 two Australians -

Corporal Arthur Sullivan and Sergeant Samuel Pearse -

fighting with Allied and White Russian forces in Russia

were awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. Sergeant

Pearse (right) is buried at Archangel in northern Russia.

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World War Two 1939-1945

Only 21 years after the ‘War to End All Wars’, 1939

saw the outbreak of the largest global conflict in

history. On one side were the Axis powers Germany,

Italy and Japan.

The Allied nations were Britain and Empire

countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada,

India and South Africa plus the United States.

Communist Russia which had made a pact with the

German Fuhrer (leader), Adolf Hitler, to divide

Europe between them, stood aside while he invaded

countries including Poland, Holland, Belgium and

France. Britain was left to fight alone. Australia and other former British

dominions sent troops and naval and air force personnel to help. However

when Germany invaded Russia in 1941, Russia demanded Allied help. In

the same year Japan, which had conquered most of South-East Asia down to

New Guinea attacked the American base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. This

brought America into the war. American

troops, ships and planes were based in

Australia to begin the campaign to defeat

Japan. Australian forces fighting in North

Africa and Syria against Axis forces were

recalled when Japan directly menaced

Australia in 1942. The Japanese tried to

take Port Moresby as a base probably as a

preliminary to a landing in northern

Australia designed to tie down the

American forces. The Japanese invasion

fleet was stopped by the battle of the Coral

Sea and on land by Australian conscripts,

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militia and AIF on the Kokoda Track in the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges.

A Queensland unit, the 61st Battalion the Queensland Cameron Highlanders,

were the first to defeat the Japanese at the battle of Milne Bay.

The tide began to turn for the Allies in 1942 leading up to the D-Day

invasion of Europe on 6 June 1944 and the island hopping campaign in the

Pacific that pushed the Japanese back to their home islands.

The European war ended in April 1945

when Allied forces entered the German

capital of Berlin. Atomic bombs were

dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in

August 1945 to force the Japanese to

surrender. World War Two cost 30million

lives. Australia casualties were 27,000

killed and 23,400 wounded.

The end of the war saw the beginning of a

large migration of people from devastated

countries in Europe to a new life in

Australia.

The Malayan Emergency 1950-1960

At the end or just after World

War Two, Communists had

seized control of many eastern

European countries, China and

North Korea. Communist

insurgents began a rebellion to

seize power in Malaya.

Australia's involvement in the

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Emergency began in 1950 with the arrival of RAAF aircraft and personnel

in Singapore. This was followed by Australian Army and Naval personnel.

One of the major military successes of the conflict was one such

coordinated operation in July 1954, east of Ipoh, in Perak state. In

Operation Termite, as the exercise was known, five RAAF Lincolns and six

from a RAF squadron made simultaneous attacks on two communist camps,

followed by paratrooper drops, a ground attack and further bombing runs

ten days later. The operation destroyed 181 camps and killed 13

communists; one communist surrendered.

Although the Emergency officially ended in 1960, Australian military

personnel remained in Malaya another three years. Thirty-nine Australian

servicemen were killed in Malaya; 15 of these as a result of operations, and

27 were wounded, most of whom were in the Army.

Korea 1951-1953

The Korean War, 1951-53, was one of the

shortest in which Australia fought but one

of the most intense. It also was the first

under the auspices of the United Nations to

counter the invasion of South Korea by

Communist North Korea. Twenty-one

countries including Australia contributed

military forces. North Korea had the initial

success but a counter attack cut off many

of these units and they retreated to the border with China. The Soviet Union

and China had armed the North Koreans and China now sent troops. The

war then developed into a stalemate for the next two years until an

Armistice was reached. Technically the Korean War has not ended because

there has been no peace treaty. The war was notable as the first in which

helicopters and jet aircraft played a major role. Australia contributed Navy,

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Army and Air Force units. The conflict was fought in difficult terrain and in

extremes of weather including bitter cold and blizzards. One of the most

outstanding actions was the battle of Kapyong on 23-24 April 1951 in

which Australian, Canadian and British troops held off a major offensive by

Chinese forces to take the South Korean capital, Seoul. The Chinese

attacked the positions of 3 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment in waves,

often over their own dead and wounded. At one point hand to hand fighting

prevented the Chinese

overrunning the

Australian positions. The

Chinese, who suffered

very heavy casualties,

withdrew on the 24 April.

Kapyong has joined

Gallipoli, the Western

Front, Tobruk, the

Kokoda Track and Long

Tan as pivotal battles in Australian military history. Australian casualties

in Korea were 340 killed, 1,216 wounded and 30 captured.

Confrontation 1963-1966

Indonesia began Konfrontasi or

Confrontation in 1963 under

President Soekarno (Sukarno) to

undermine the newly formed

Malaysian Federation of Malaya,

Singapore and the British

protectorates of North Borneo and

Sarawak. Indonesian forces

launched raids on Malaysia and across its border in Borneo. Because of the

often rugged jungle terrain, large rivers and lack of roads, Confrontation

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became a war of long range foot patrols with air resupply. Australian

rotated the 3rd

and then the 4th

Battalion through Borneo. It also was the first

time that National Servicemen had been in action with 150 serving in 4

Battalion Royal Australian Regiment and the 21st and 22

nd Construction

Squadrons. 3787078 Sapper John Blackett, of 21 Construction Squadron,

was the first National Serviceman to serve in a war zone. The undeclared

war ended when Soekarno was overthrown in an Army coup and a peace

treaty was signed with Malaysia. Australia casualties were 16 killed and 9

wounded, although not all were due to combat.

Vietnam 1962-1975

Vietnam was another Asian

war caused by Communist

North Vietnam attempting

to overthrow by armed

force the democratically

elected Government of

South Vietnam. The

Communists, using regular

forces and Viet Cong

guerrillas, waged a

campaign of terror and

intimidation. They also hid

amongst the civilian

population to carry out

military attacks. America and its allies came to the aid of the South

Vietnamese Government. Australia contributed infantry, artillery, armoured

personnel carriers, helicopters and other units to patrol Phuoc Tuy Province

which lay on the road to the capital, Saigon.

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As in Malaya, this was a war of patrolling, in which Australian soldiers

excelled, to deny the enemy free movement. Although the American and

allies Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand the Philippines

maintained military superiority over the Communists, they lost the political

war over the long engagement and conscription. Out of the 60,000

Australian troops, 15,381 were National Servicemen. Australian casualties

were 521 dead and 3,129 wounded.

The pivotal battle

between Communist

and Australia forces

was Long Tan on 18

August 1966. D

Company of the 6th

Battalion Royal

Australian Regiment

fought a pitched

battle with an

estimated 2,500

North Vietnamese

and Viet Cong infantry in pouring monsoonal rain in a rubber plantation.

The 108 Australians withstood repeated waves of attacks until relief forces

arrived in armoured personnel carriers. A total of 18 Australians were killed

and 24 wounded. The Communists lost at least 245 men but probably many

more because of their policy of removing their dead from battle fields.

The anti-Vietnam campaign in Australia extended to vilification of

returning Vietnam veterans by some groups, a situation not rectified until a

welcome home parade was staged in Sydney in 1987. Vietnam today

remains a poverty-stricken Communist dictatorship with no political

opposition allowed, no free media and no free speech.

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Iraq 1990-1991, 2003-2009

Iraq, situated between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Middle East,

was the home of the Sumerian civilisation; the first to have an organised

army from 4,000BC. By 1990 Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein, a brutal

dictator, who had killed thousands of his own people, used poison gas on

the minority Kurds, attempted to exterminate the Marsh Arabs at the mouth

of the two rivers and waged a prolonged war with Iran in which an

estimated two million were killed.

In 1990-1991, in the first Iraq War,

Hussein invaded Kuwait and fired

long-range missiles into Israel and

Saudi Arabia. A coalition of Allied

forces, including Australia, forced

him back to Iraq. In 2003, in the

second Iraq War, American and

British forces, fearing that Saddam

had atomic weapons, invaded and

defeated the Iraqi forces. Australia

contributed Army and Air Force

personnel in Iraq and Navy ships which patrolled the Persian Gulf. No

Australians were killed in combat. The second war ended in 2009.

However, Iraq soon descended into a religious civil war between Shi’ite and

Sunni Islamic sects – a pattern repeated throughout this and subsequent

Middle Eastern conflicts. In 2014, RAAF fighter jets and a group of special

forces instructors were sent to help the Iraqi Government resist an extremist

Islamic group attempting to establish a caliphate (State) in Iraq and Syria.

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Afghanistan 2001-2013

Afghanistan was Australia’s

longest war, to deny the

country as a safe haven for

Al Qa’ieda terrorists whose

off-shoots killed 88

Australians in a bomb

attack in Indonesia in 2002.

The conflict developed into

preventing the extremist

Taliban regaining control of

the country to reimpose their strict Islamic regime. Again, Australian forces

used a policy of constant patrolling on foot and by helicopter and vehicles

to deny the enemy free movement. Long range special units took the fight

into enemy strongholds that could not be reached by conventional means.

A feature of the conflict was the enemy’s use of improvised explosive

devices, often consisting of a bundle of plastic explosive which could be

detonated either by contact or by remote control from a mobile phone. The

Taliban did not hesitate to use the civilian population as human shields.

Australia casualties were 40 dead and 260 wounded.

PEACE-KEEPING

Since World War Two, Australia has been involved in 37 peace-keeping

operations abroad.

A total of 10 Australians have been killed.

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THE VICTORIA CROSS

The Victoria Cross was introduced on

29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to

honour acts of valour. The citation

reads: ‘for most conspicuous bravery,

or some daring or pre-eminent act of

valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme

devotion to duty in the presence of the

enemy.’ It is the highest award in the

British and Commonwealth honours

systems, taking precedence over all

other military and civilian medals.

Between 1899 and 2013, Australians

have been awarded 100 Victoria

Crosses.

These were:

Boer War 6

World War I 64, including 9 at

Gallipoli

North Russia 2

World War II 20

Vietnam 4

Afghanistan 4

©Allen Callaghan 2015

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Lest we forget

This project is proudly supported by the

Queensland Government

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